Scalable real-time location sharing framework

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system and a method for performing operations comprising: storing, on a distributed storage system, a front-end (FE) instance and a plurality of real-time graph (RTG) instances, each of the plurality of RTG instances includes a plurality of device objects, the FE instance being configured to communicate with a client device associated with a first user; establishing a bi-directional streaming remote procedure call (RPC) connection between the FE instance and the plurality of RTG instances; receiving, by the FE instance, a status update from the client device; determining, by the FE instance, that a first device object corresponding to the client device is stored on a first RTG instance of the plurality of RTG instances; and transmitting a first message comprising the status update from the FE instance to the first RTG instance to update the first device object.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to real-time location sharing.

BACKGROUND

The popularity of users interacting with other users online continues togrow. There are many ways for users to interact online with other users.Users can communicate with their friends using messaging applicationsand can play with other users online in multiplayer video games orperform other actions using various other applications. Users alsoincreasing desire to see where their friends are currently located.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. To easily identifythe discussion of any particular element or act, the most significantdigit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number inwhich that element is first introduced. Some examples are illustrated byway of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a networked environment inwhich the present disclosure may be deployed, in accordance with someexamples.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a messaging system, inaccordance with some examples, that has both client-side and server-sidefunctionality.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a data structure asmaintained in a database, in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a message, in accordance withsome examples.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a distributed real-timestatus update server(s), in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 6 is another diagrammatic representation of a distributed real-timestatus update server(s), in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of an RTG instance, inaccordance with some examples.

FIGS. 8A-8C are diagrammatic representations of message exchangesbetween device objects of distributed real-time status update server(s),in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of sending updates based ondifferent friend list versions, in accordance with some examples.

FIGS. 10A-D are flowcharts illustrating example operations of thedistributed real-time status update server(s), according to examples.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions may be executed forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a software architecture within whichexamples may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative examples of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of various examples.It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art that examplesmay be practiced without these specific details. In general, well-knowninstruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are notnecessarily shown in detail.

Typically, users access messaging applications not only to communicatewith their friends but also to determine the current locations of theirfriends. Some messaging applications present the current locations aspart of the chat interface where the users exchange messages and canalso present the locations on an interactive map. For example, avatarsrepresenting the users can be positioned on the map at the respectivelocations of the various users. Obtaining the current locations of thefriends consumes many computing and network resources. Specifically, thelocations of each of the friends can be pushed to the particular userdevice which requires a large number of messages to be exchanged over anetwork. This can degrade network performance and unnecessarily consumesnetwork bandwidth.

In some systems, the locations of the friends can be polled by aparticular user device. For example, the user device can send a requestto a server with an identifier of one or more friends to receive thecurrent locations of the one or more friends. However, even in thesesystems, network bandwidth and system resources are wasted.Specifically, sometimes the locations of the friends which are beingrequested by a given user device may not change very frequently, andpolling for locations of such friends result in the same location beingsent back to the given user device which wastes system resources. Inaddition, delays attributed to polling or pushing locations of friendsto various users are introduced, which reduces the accuracy of thelocations that are being communicated. Namely, the location that iscommunicated to the requesting device may not reflect the actual currentlocation of a given friend, such as if the friend is actively movingaround. This makes such systems less attractive and degrades the overalluser experience.

The disclosed examples seek to improve the efficiency and speed ofproviding status updates, such as location information, to clientdevices on a real-time basis using a distributed storage system. Thedistributed storage system uses real-time graph instance to store deviceobjects that represent status information for various users, such aslocation information. The device objects communicate with each otherthrough front-end instances. As a given user's location changes, thatlocation is updated in the user's device object. The location ispropagated in an intelligent and automated manner to device objects ofthe user's friends. When a given one of the user's friends requests thecurrent location of the user, such as when the given friend opens aninteractive map of avatars, the given friend's device communicates witha front-end instance to retrieve the location of the user device that isstored in the device object of the given friend. This reduces theoverall network traffic and increases the rate at which location updatesare communicated and exchanged. This way, lag between when a location isrequested and when the location is provided to a given user, isminimized, which provides a real-time location sharing experience forthe users.

Specifically, according to the disclosed examples, a front-end (FE)instance and a plurality of real-time graph (RTG) instances are storedon a distributed storage system. In some cases, multiple FE instancesand multiple RTG instances can be stored, the FE instances may be scaledup/down based on load and number of client devices and the RTG instancesare of a fixed size. Each of the plurality of RTG instances includes aplurality of device objects and the FE instance is configured tocommunicate with a client device associated with a first user. Abi-directional streaming remote procedure call (RPC) connection isestablished between the FE instance and the plurality of RTG instances.The FE instance receives a status update from the client device anddetermines that a first device object corresponding to the client deviceis stored on a first RTG instance of the plurality of RTG instances. TheFE instances transmit a first message comprising the status update tothe first RTG instance to update the first device object. The firstdevice object identifies friends of the user and provides the statusupdate to the device objects of the friends of the user. When a givenfriend of the user ultimately requests the status update, such as thelocation of the user, that information is readily available in thedevice object of the given friend and is communicated in real-time tothe given friend's device.

In this way, according to the disclosed examples, the device resources(e.g., processor cycles, memory, and power usage) needed to accomplish atask with the device are reduced.

Networked Computing Environment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network.The messaging system 100 includes multiple instances of a client device102, each of which hosts a number of applications, including a messagingclient 104. Each messaging client 104 is communicatively coupled toother instances of the messaging client 104 and a messaging serversystem 108 via a network 106 (e.g., the Internet). Messaging serversystem 108 may include a distributed real-time status update server(s)107, in which case, each messaging client 104 receives status updates(e.g., location updates, location preference updates, online statusupdates, etc.) from the distributed real-time status update server(s)107 via the messaging server system 108. In some implementations, all ora portion of the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107 isimplemented externally to the messaging server system 108. In thesecircumstances, each messaging client 104 receives status updates (e.g.,location updates, location preference updates, online status updates,etc.) from the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107directly via the network 106.

A messaging client 104 is able to communicate and exchange data withanother messaging client 104 and with the messaging server system 108via the network 106. The data exchanged between messaging client 104,and between a messaging client 104 and the messaging server system 108,includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well aspayload data (e.g., text, audio, video or other multimedia data).

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client 104. While certainfunctions of the messaging system 100 are described herein as beingperformed by either a messaging client 104 or by the messaging serversystem 108, the location of certain functionality either within themessaging client 104 or the messaging server system 108 may be a designchoice. For example, it may be technically preferable to initiallydeploy certain technology and functionality within the messaging serversystem 108 but to later migrate this technology and functionality to themessaging client 104, where a client device 102 has sufficientprocessing capacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client 104. Such operations includetransmitting data to, receiving data from, and processing data generatedby the messaging client 104. This data may include message content,client device information, geolocation information, media augmentationand overlays, message content persistence conditions, social networkinformation, and live event information, as examples. Data exchangeswithin the messaging system 100 are invoked and controlled throughfunctions available via user interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, anApplication Program Interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, andprovides a programmatic interface to, application servers 112. Theapplication servers 112 are communicatively coupled to a database server118, which facilitates access to a database 120 that stores dataassociated with messages processed by the application servers 112.Similarly, a web server 124 is coupled to the application servers 112,and provides web-based interfaces to the application servers 112. Tothis end, the web server 124 processes incoming network requests overthe Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and several other relatedprotocols.

The Application Program Interface (API) server 110 receives andtransmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) between theclient device 102 and the application servers 112. Specifically, theApplication Program Interface (API) server 110 provides a set ofinterfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that can be called or queriedby the messaging client 104 in order to invoke functionality of theapplication servers 112. The Application Program Interface (API) server110 exposes various functions supported by the application servers 112,including account registration, login functionality, the sending ofmessages, via the application servers 112, from a particular messagingclient 104 to another messaging client 104, the sending of media files(e.g., images or video) from a messaging client 104 to a messagingserver 114, and for possible access by another messaging client 104, thesettings of a collection of media data (e.g., story), the retrieval of alist of friends of a user of a client device 102, the retrieval of suchcollections, the retrieval of messages and content, the addition anddeletion of entities (e.g., friends) to an entity graph (e.g., a socialgraph), the location of friends within a social graph, and opening anapplication event (e.g., relating to the messaging client 104).

The application servers 112 host a number of server applications andsubsystems, including for example a messaging server 114, an imageprocessing server 116, and a social network server 122. The messagingserver 114 implements a number of message processing technologies andfunctions, particularly related to the aggregation and other processingof content (e.g., textual and multimedia content) included in messagesreceived from multiple instances of the messaging client 104. As will bedescribed in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available to themessaging client 104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processingof data may also be performed server-side by the messaging server 114,in view of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application servers 112 also include an image processing server 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or video within the payload of amessage sent from or received at the messaging server 114.

The social network server 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server 114. To this end, the social network server 122maintains and accesses an entity graph 306 (as shown in FIG. 3) withinthe database 120. Examples of functions and services supported by thesocial network server 122 include the identification of other users ofthe messaging system 100 with which a particular user has relationshipsor is “following,” and also the identification of other entities andinterests of a particular user.

The distributed real-time status update server(s) 107 stores a real-timegraph (RTG) of instances or nodes. These nodes maintain variousinformation about different users of the messaging server 114. Clientdevices 102 receive updates, such as location updates, from friends inreal-time from the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107.The distributed real-time status update server(s) 107 includes one ormore front-end (FE) instances and one or more real-time graph (RTG)instances. When a given client device 102 initially connects to thedistributed real-time status update server(s) 107 or when a message isdirected to a user of a given client device 102, a FE instance iscreated and stored on the distributed real-time status update server(s)107 for the client device 102. In some cases, an already existing FEinstance is accessed in which case one need not be created when a clientdevice 102 connects. This may happen if the client device 102 previouslyestablished a streaming connection to the FE instance or another FEinstance. The FE instances are created on an as needed basis based onthe load of the server(s) 107. This may include storing a unique deviceidentifier for the client device or the user of the client device in theFE instance. The FE instance establishes a real-time link to the givenclient device 102 for exchanging information with the client device 102.The FE instance also establishes a bidirectional streaming real-timegRPC (remote procedure call) connection with each of a plurality of RTGinstances.

In some examples, the FE instance receives an update (e.g., a locationupdate) from the client device 102. In response, the FE instanceidentifies a device object that corresponds to the client device 102.Specifically, each RTG instance stores one or more device objects thatcorrespond to various client devices 102 (e.g., physical devices). TheFE instance accesses routing information that identifies which of aplurality of the RTG instances stores the device object for the clientdevice 102. The FE instance then transmits the status update to the RTGinstance that stores the device object for the client device 102 via thepreviously established gRPC connection.

The RTG instance receives the status update (e.g., a location update orupdates to preference information, such as location sharing preferences)and identifies the device object that is to be updated for the clientdevice 102. The RTG instance updates the corresponding status updatestored in the device object with the received update. The device objectprocesses the update and identifies a plurality of friends that areassociated with the user of the client device 102 on the messagingsystem 100. The device object generates a plurality of messages directedto device object of the friends associated with the user, such as basedon the current status of the respective device objects (e.g., whetherthe device object indicates the friend is active or inactive). Themessages include the update to the status (e.g., the update to thelocation). In some cases, the device object first determines whether thestatus update satisfies certain criteria. For example, the device objectdetermines whether a location included in the update differs from apreviously stored location by more than a threshold amount. As anotherexample, the device object determines whether a location included in theupdate was last updated more than a threshold amount of time ago (e.g.,a timestamp of a previously stored location exceeds a current timestampof the location in the update by more than a specified amount). Asanother example, the device object determines whether a locationincluded in the update is to be shared with users based on their currentstatus (e.g., whether the users are currently active or inactive,whether the users are currently reading messages or accessing aninteractive map that presents locations of friends in real-time, a lastconnection time of the users, and so forth). If the status updatesatisfies the criteria or criterion, then the device object sends themessages to the device objects of the friends. In some cases, thecriteria may be satisfied for a first group of friends and not satisfiedfor a second group of friends. In such cases, the device object sendsthe status update to the device objects of the first group of friendsand delays sending or prevents sending the update to the device objectsto the second group of friends altogether.

In some examples, the device object of a given friend resides or isstored on a different RTG instance (e.g., a second RTG instance) thanthe RTG instance that stores the device object of the user. In suchcases, the device object of the user sends the message with the updatedirected to the device object of the friend to a randomly orpseudorandomly selected FE instance. In some cases, the FE instance isselected in a round-robin manner, where the FE instances are stored in alist, and the next FE instance that is adjacent to the FE instance towhich a message was previously sent is selected. Once the last FEinstance in the list is reached, the first FE instance in the list isselected to send a message to a device object. The FE instance receivesthe message and determines which of the plurality of RTG instancesstores the device object of the given friend. The FE instance usesrouting information stored in the FE instance to identify the second RTGinstance that stores the device object. The FE instance then sends themessage to the RTG instance that stores the device object. The RTGinstance receives the message and updates the status of the user that isstored in the device object for the friend.

The device object stored on the RTG instance is automatically deletedfrom the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107 after athreshold time interval after a given client device 102 disconnects fromthe server(s) 107. Once the threshold time interval is reached, theinformation stored in the device object is moved to a differentpersistent storage device and a real-time connection with a clientdevice 102 is terminated as well as the gRPC connections to the RTGinstances. In this way, whenever a given friend has an update to theirstatus, this update is propagated to the device object of usersassociated with the friend. When such users ultimately connect to thesystem (e.g., open the messaging client 104), the status informationstored in the device objects for such users is made available to theusers seamlessly and quickly. This avoids the need for the users to pollor wait to directly receive status updates from their friends as suchinformation is updated in the device object for the users while theusers are offline. In some cases, FE instances are created and deletedbased on a load of the server(s) 107. A gRPC proxy object is generatedand stored on the FE instances to communicate with a client device 102over a gRPC connection. Such a proxy object provides information, suchas status updates or information, from the client device 102 to acorresponding device object stored on the RTG instance. Once theconnection between the gRPC proxy object and the client device 102 isterminated, the gRPC proxy object is deleted and the FE instance remainsstored and available to handle further connections.

System Architecture

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details regarding themessaging system 100, according to some examples. Specifically, themessaging system 100 is shown to comprise the messaging client 104 andthe application servers 112. The messaging system 100 embodies a numberof subsystems, which are supported on the client-side by the messagingclient 104 and on the sever side by the application servers 112. Thesesubsystems include, for example, an ephemeral timer system 202, acollection management system 204, an augmentation system 206, a mapsystem 208, and a game system 210.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary or time-limited access to content by the messaging client 104and the messaging server 114. The ephemeral timer system 202incorporates a number of timers that, based on duration and displayparameters associated with a message, or collection of messages (e.g., astory), selectively enable access (e.g., for presentation and display)to messages and associated content via the messaging client 104. Furtherdetails regarding the operation of the ephemeral timer system 202 areprovided below.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managing sets orcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image video, and audiodata). A collection of content (e.g., messages, including images, video,text, and audio) may be organized into an “event gallery” or an “eventstory.” Such a collection may be made available for a specified timeperiod, such as the duration of an event to which the content relates.For example, content relating to a music concert may be made availableas a “story” for the duration of that music concert. The collectionmanagement system 204 may also be responsible for publishing an iconthat provides notification of the existence of a particular collectionto the user interface of the messaging client 104.

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 212 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate aparticular collection of content. For example, the curation interface212 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of contentrelating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate content orredundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and contentrules to automatically curate a content collection. In certain examples,compensation may be paid to a user for the inclusion of user-generatedcontent into a collection. In such cases, the collection managementsystem 204 operates to automatically make payments to such users for theuse of their content.

The augmentation system 206 provides various functions that enable auser to augment (e.g., annotate or otherwise modify or edit) mediacontent associated with a message. For example, the augmentation system206 provides functions related to the generation and publishing of mediaoverlays for messages processed by the messaging system 100. Theaugmentation system 206 operatively supplies a media overlay oraugmentation (e.g., an image filter) to the messaging client 104 basedon a geolocation of the client device 102. In another example, theaugmentation system 206 operatively supplies a media overlay to themessaging client 104 based on other information, such as social networkinformation of the user of the client device 102. A media overlay mayinclude audio and visual content and visual effects. Examples of audioand visual content include pictures, texts, logos, animations, and soundeffects. An example of a visual effect includes color overlaying. Theaudio and visual content or the visual effects can be applied to a mediacontent item (e.g., a photo) at the client device 102. For example, themedia overlay may include text or image that can be overlaid on top of aphotograph taken by the client device 102. In another example, the mediaoverlay includes an identification of a location overlay (e.g., Venicebeach), a name of a live event, or a name of a merchant overlay (e.g.,Beach Coffee House). In another example, the augmentation system 206uses the geolocation of the client device 102 to identify a mediaoverlay that includes the name of a merchant at the geolocation of theclient device 102. The media overlay may include other indiciaassociated with the merchant. The media overlays may be stored in thedatabase 120 and accessed through the database server 118.

In some examples, the augmentation system 206 provides a user-basedpublication platform that enables users to select a geolocation on a mapand upload content associated with the selected geolocation. The usermay also specify circumstances under which a particular media overlayshould be offered to other users. The augmentation system 206 generatesa media overlay that includes the uploaded content and associates theuploaded content with the selected geolocation.

In other examples, the augmentation system 206 provides a merchant-basedpublication platform that enables merchants to select a particular mediaoverlay associated with a geolocation via a bidding process. Forexample, the augmentation system 206 associates the media overlay of thehighest bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocation for apredefined amount of time.

The map system 208 provides various geographic location functions, andsupports the presentation of map-based media content and messages by themessaging client 104. For example, the map system 208 enables thedisplay of user icons or avatars (e.g., stored in profile data 308) on amap to indicate a current or past location of “friends” of a user, aswell as media content (e.g., collections of messages includingphotographs and videos) generated by such friends, within the context ofa map. For example, a message posted by a user to the messaging system100 from a specific geographic location may be displayed within thecontext of a map at that particular location to “friends” of a specificuser on a map interface of the messaging client 104. A user canfurthermore share his or her location and status information (e.g.,using an appropriate status avatar) with other users of the messagingsystem 100 via the messaging client 104, with this location and statusinformation being similarly displayed within the context of a mapinterface of the messaging client 104 to selected users.

The game system 210 provides various gaming functions within the contextof the messaging client 104. The messaging client 104 provides a gameinterface providing a list of available games (e.g., web-based games orweb-based applications) that can be launched by a user within thecontext of the messaging client 104, and played with other users of themessaging system 100. The messaging system 100 further enables aparticular user to invite other users to participate in the play of aspecific game, by issuing invitations to such other users from themessaging client 104. The messaging client 104 also supports both voiceand text messaging (e.g., chats) within the context of gameplay,provides a leaderboard for the games, and also supports the provision ofin-game rewards (e.g., coins and items).

Data Architecture

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data structures 300, whichmay be stored in the database 120 of the messaging server system 108,according to certain examples. While the content of the database 120 isshown to comprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that thedata could be stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as anobject-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table302. This message data includes, for any one particular message, atleast message sender data, message recipient (or receiver) data, and apayload. Further details regarding information that may be included in amessage, and included within the message data stored in the messagetable 302, is described below with reference to FIG. 4.

An entity table 304 stores entity data, and is linked (e.g.,referentially) to an entity graph 306 and profile data 308. Entities forwhich records are maintained within the entity table 304 may includeindividuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects, places, events,and so forth. Regardless of entity type, any entity regarding which themessaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognized entity. Eachentity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as an entity typeidentifier (not shown).

The entity graph 306 stores information regarding relationships andassociations between entities. Such relationships may be social,professional (e.g., work at a common corporation or organization)interested-based or activity-based, merely for example.

The profile data 308 stores multiple types of profile data about aparticular entity. The profile data 308 may be selectively used andpresented to other users of the messaging system 100, based on privacysettings specified by a particular entity. Where the entity is anindividual, the profile data 308 includes, for example, a user name,telephone number, address, settings (e.g., notification and privacysettings), as well as a user-selected avatar representation (orcollection of such avatar representations). A particular user may thenselectively include one or more of these avatar representations withinthe content of messages communicated via the messaging system 100, andon map interfaces displayed by messaging clients 104 to other users. Thecollection of avatar representations may include “status avatars,” whichpresent a graphical representation of a status or activity that the usermay select to communicate at a particular time.

Where the entity is a group, the profile data 308 for the group maysimilarly include one or more avatar representations associated with thegroup, in addition to the group name, members, and various settings(e.g., notifications) for the relevant group.

The database 120 also stores augmentation data, such as overlays orfilters, in an augmentation table 310. The augmentation data isassociated with and applied to videos (for which data is stored in avideo table 314) and images (for which data is stored in an image table316).

Filters, in one example, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid onan image or video during presentation to a recipient user. Filters maybe of various types, including user-selected filters from a set offilters presented to a sending user by the messaging client 104 when thesending user is composing a message. Other types of filters includegeolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which may be presentedto a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocationfilters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presentedwithin a user interface by the messaging client 104, based ongeolocation information determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS)unit of the client device 102.

Another type of filter is a data filter, which may be selectivelypresented to a sending user by the messaging client 104, based on otherinputs or information gathered by the client device 102 during themessage creation process. Examples of data filters include currenttemperature at a specific location, a current speed at which a sendinguser is traveling, battery life for a client device 102, or the currenttime.

Other augmentation data that may be stored within the image table 316includes augmented reality content items (e.g., corresponding toapplying Lenses or augmented reality experiences). An augmented realitycontent item may be a real-time special effect and sound that may beadded to an image or a video.

As described above, augmentation data includes augmented reality contentitems, overlays, image transformations, AR images, and similar termsthat refer to modifications that may be applied to image data (e.g.,videos or images). This includes real-time modifications, which modifyan image as it is captured using device sensors (e.g., one or multiplecameras) of a client device 102 and then displayed on a screen of theclient device 102 with the modifications. This also includesmodifications to stored content, such as video clips in a gallery thatmay be modified. For example, in a client device 102 with access tomultiple augmented reality content items, a user can use a single videoclip with multiple augmented reality content items to see how thedifferent augmented reality content items will modify the stored clip.For example, multiple augmented reality content items that applydifferent pseudorandom movement models can be applied to the samecontent by selecting different augmented reality content items for thecontent. Similarly, real-time video capture may be used with anillustrated modification to show how video images currently beingcaptured by sensors of a client device 102 would modify the captureddata. Such data may simply be displayed on the screen and not stored inmemory, or the content captured by the device sensors may be recordedand stored in memory with or without the modifications (or both). Insome systems, a preview feature can show how different augmented realitycontent items will look within different windows in a display at thesame time. This can, for example, enable multiple windows with differentpseudorandom animations to be viewed on a display at the same time.

Data and various systems using augmented reality content items or othersuch transform systems to modify content using this data can thusinvolve detection of objects (e.g., faces, hands, bodies, cats, dogs,surfaces, objects, etc.), tracking of such objects as they leave, enter,and move around the field of view in video frames, and the modificationor transformation of such objects as they are tracked. In variousexamples, different methods for achieving such transformations may beused. Some examples may involve generating a three-dimensional meshmodel of the object or objects, and using transformations and animatedtextures of the model within the video to achieve the transformation. Inother examples, tracking of points on an object may be used to place animage or texture (which may be two dimensional or three dimensional) atthe tracked position. In still further examples, neural network analysisof video frames may be used to place images, models, or textures incontent (e.g., images or frames of video). Augmented reality contentitems thus refer both to the images, models, and textures used to createtransformations in content, as well as to additional modeling andanalysis information needed to achieve such transformations with objectdetection, tracking, and placement.

Real-time video processing can be performed with any kind of video data(e.g., video streams, video files, etc.) saved in a memory of acomputerized system of any kind. For example, a user can load videofiles and save them in a memory of a device, or can generate a videostream using sensors of the device. Additionally, any objects can beprocessed using a computer animation model, such as a human's face andparts of a human body, animals, or non-living things such as chairs,cars, or other objects.

In some examples, when a particular modification is selected along withcontent to be transformed, elements to be transformed are identified bythe computing device, and then detected and tracked if they are presentin the frames of the video. The elements of the object are modifiedaccording to the request for modification, thus transforming the framesof the video stream. Transformation of frames of a video stream can beperformed by different methods for different kinds of transformation.For example, for transformations of frames mostly referring to changingforms of objects' elements, characteristic points for each element of anobject are calculated (e.g., using an Active Shape Model (ASM) or otherknown methods). Then, a mesh based on the characteristic points isgenerated for each of the at least one element of the object. This meshis used in the following stage of tracking the elements of the object inthe video stream. In the process of tracking, the mentioned mesh foreach element is aligned with a position of each element. Then,additional points are generated on the mesh. A set of first points isgenerated for each element based on a request for modification, and aset of second points is generated for each element based on the set offirst points and the request for modification. Then, the frames of thevideo stream can be transformed by modifying the elements of the objecton the basis of the sets of first and second points and the mesh. Insuch method, a background of the modified object can be changed ordistorted as well by tracking and modifying the background.

In some examples, transformations changing some areas of an object usingits elements can be performed by calculating characteristic points foreach element of an object and generating a mesh based on the calculatedcharacteristic points. Points are generated on the mesh, and thenvarious areas based on the points are generated. The elements of theobject are then tracked by aligning the area for each element with aposition for each of the at least one element, and properties of theareas can be modified based on the request for modification, thustransforming the frames of the video stream. Depending on the specificrequest for modification, properties of the mentioned areas can betransformed in different ways. Such modifications may involve changingcolor of areas; removing at least some part of areas from the frames ofthe video stream; including one or more new objects into areas which arebased on a request for modification; and modifying or distorting theelements of an area or object. In various examples, any combination ofsuch modifications or other similar modifications may be used. Forcertain models to be animated, some characteristic points can beselected as control points to be used in determining the entirestate-space of options for the model animation.

In some examples of a computer animation model to transform image datausing face detection, the face is detected on an image with use of aspecific face detection algorithm (e.g., Viola-Jones). Then, an ActiveShape Model (ASM) algorithm is applied to the face region of an image todetect facial feature reference points.

In other examples, other methods and algorithms suitable for facedetection can be used. For example, in some examples, features arelocated using a landmark, which represents a distinguishable pointpresent in most of the images under consideration. For facial landmarks,for example, the location of the left eye pupil may be used. If aninitial landmark is not identifiable (e.g., if a person has aneyepatch), secondary landmarks may be used. Such landmark identificationprocedures may be used for any such objects. In some examples, a set oflandmarks forms a shape. Shapes can be represented as vectors using thecoordinates of the points in the shape. One shape is aligned to anotherwith a similarity transform (allowing translation, scaling, androtation) that minimizes the average Euclidean distance between shapepoints. The mean shape is the mean of the aligned training shapes.

In some examples, a search for landmarks from the mean shape aligned tothe position and size of the face determined by a global face detectoris started. Such a search then repeats the steps of suggesting atentative shape by adjusting the locations of shape points by templatematching of the image texture around each point and then conforming thetentative shape to a global shape model until convergence occurs. Insome systems, individual template matches are unreliable, and the shapemodel pools the results of the weak template matches to form a strongeroverall classifier. The entire search is repeated at each level in animage pyramid, from coarse to fine resolution.

A transformation system can capture an image or video stream on a clientdevice (e.g., the client device 102) and perform complex imagemanipulations locally on the client device 102 while maintaining asuitable user experience, computation time, and power consumption. Thecomplex image manipulations may include size and shape changes, emotiontransfers (e.g., changing a face from a frown to a smile), statetransfers (e.g., aging a subject, reducing apparent age, changinggender), style transfers, graphical element application, and any othersuitable image or video manipulation implemented by a convolutionalneural network that has been configured to execute efficiently on theclient device 102.

In some examples, a computer animation model to transform image data canbe used by a system where a user may capture an image or video stream ofthe user (e.g., a selfie) using a client device 102 having a neuralnetwork operating as part of a messaging client 104 operating on theclient device 102. The transformation system operating within themessaging client 104 determines the presence of a face within the imageor video stream and provides modification icons associated with acomputer animation model to transform image data, or the computeranimation model can be present as associated with an interface describedherein. The modification icons include changes that may be the basis formodifying the user's face within the image or video stream as part ofthe modification operation. Once a modification icon is selected, thetransformation system initiates a process to convert the image of theuser to reflect the selected modification icon (e.g., generate a smilingface on the user). A modified image or video stream may be presented ina graphical user interface displayed on the client device 102 as soon asthe image or video stream is captured, and a specified modification isselected. The transformation system may implement a complexconvolutional neural network on a portion of the image or video streamto generate and apply the selected modification. That is, the user maycapture the image or video stream and be presented with a modifiedresult in real-time or near real-time once a modification icon has beenselected. Further, the modification may be persistent while the videostream is being captured, and the selected modification icon remainstoggled. Machine-taught neural networks may be used to enable suchmodifications.

The graphical user interface, presenting the modification performed bythe transformation system, may supply the user with additionalinteraction options. Such options may be based on the interface used toinitiate the content capture and selection of a particular computeranimation model (e.g., initiation from a content creator userinterface). In various examples, a modification may be persistent afteran initial selection of a modification icon. The user may toggle themodification on or off by tapping or otherwise selecting the face beingmodified by the transformation system and store it for later viewing orbrowse to other areas of the imaging application. Where multiple facesare modified by the transformation system, the user may toggle themodification on or off globally by tapping or selecting a single facemodified and displayed within a graphical user interface. In someexamples, individual faces, among a group of multiple faces, may beindividually modified, or such modifications may be individually toggledby tapping or selecting the individual face or a series of individualfaces displayed within the graphical user interface.

A story table 312 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particularcollection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., each user forwhich a record is maintained in the entity table 304). A user may createa “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has beencreated and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the user interfaceof the messaging client 104 may include an icon that is user-selectableto enable a sending user to add specific content to his or her personalstory.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically,or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom various locations and events. Users whose client devices havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via auser interface of the messaging client 104, to contribute content to aparticular live story. The live story may be identified to the user bythe messaging client 104, based on his or her location. The end resultis a “live story” told from a community perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some examples, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

As mentioned above, the video table 314 stores video data that, in oneexample, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 302. Similarly, the image table 316 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 304. The entity table 304 may associate variousaugmentations from the augmentation table 310 with various images andvideos stored in the image table 316 and the video table 314.

Distributed real-time status update server data 318 stores instances,nodes, and routing tables or information used by the distributedreal-time status update server(s) 107. For example, the distributedreal-time status update server data 318 stores FE instances, RTGinstances, routing tables, proxy objects or nodes, device objects, andinter-region proxy instances or nodes.

Data Communications Architecture

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 400,according to some examples, generated by a messaging client 104 forcommunication to a further messaging client 104 or the messaging server114. The content of a particular message 400 is used to populate themessage table 302 stored within the database 120, accessible by themessaging server 114. Similarly, the content of a message 400 is storedin memory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data of the client device 102or the application servers 112. A message 400 is shown to include thefollowing example components:

-   -   message identifier 402: a unique identifier that identifies the        message 400.    -   message text payload 404: text, to be generated by a user via a        user interface of the client device 102, and that is included in        the message 400.    -   message image payload 406: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 102 or retrieved from a memory        component of a client device 102, and that is included in the        message 400. Image data for a sent or received message 400 may        be stored in the image table 316.    -   message video payload 408: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 102, and that is included in the message 400. Video data        for a sent or received message 400 may be stored in the video        table 314.    -   message audio payload 410: audio data, captured by a microphone        or retrieved from a memory component of the client device 102,        and that is included in the message 400.    -   message augmentation data 412: augmentation data (e.g., filters,        stickers, or other annotations or enhancements) that represents        augmentations to be applied to message image payload 406,        message video payload 408, or message audio payload 410 of the        message 400. Augmentation data for a sent or received message        400 may be stored in the augmentation table 310.    -   message duration parameter 414: parameter value indicating, in        seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        (e.g., the message image payload 406, message video payload 408,        message audio payload 410) is to be presented or made accessible        to a user via the messaging client 104.    -   message geolocation parameter 416: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 416 values may be included in the payload, each of        these parameter values being associated with respect to content        items included in the content (e.g., a specific image within the        message image payload 406, or a specific video in the message        video payload 408).    -   message story identifier 418: identifier values identifying one        or more content collections (e.g., “stories” identified in the        story table 312) with which a particular content item in the        message image payload 406 of the message 400 is associated. For        example, multiple images within the message image payload 406        may each be associated with multiple content collections using        identifier values.    -   message tag 420: each message 400 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 406        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 420 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   message sender identifier 422: an identifier (e.g., a messaging        system identifier, email address, or device identifier)        indicative of a user of the client device 102 on which the        message 400 was generated and from which the message 400 was        sent.    -   message receiver identifier 424: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 102 to        which the message 400 is addressed.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of message 400 maybe pointers to locations in tables within which content data values arestored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 406 maybe a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 316.Similarly, values within the message video payload 408 may point to datastored within a video table 314, values stored within the messageaugmentation data 412 may point to data stored in an augmentation table310, values stored within the message story identifier 418 may point todata stored in a story table 312, and values stored within the messagesender identifier 422 and the message receiver identifier 424 may pointto user records stored within an entity table 304.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a distributed real-timestatus update server(s) 107, in accordance with some examples. Thedistributed real-time status update server(s) 107 includes one or moreFE instances 510, one or more RTG instances 520, and an RTGconfiguration map 530. A given client device 102 establishes a gRPCconnection with a first FE instance 510. In one example, the givenclient device 102 establishes the gRPC connection with the first FEinstance 510 when the given client device 102 opens a map interface or achat interface of the messaging client 104. If the given client device102 has not previously connected to the distributed real-time statusupdate server(s) 107 or has connected more than a threshold timeprevious to the current time, a new FE instance 510 is created. Thefirst FE instance 510 generates a proxy object 512 for communicatingwith the given client device 102. The proxy object 512 transmitsmessages from the given client device 102 to a corresponding deviceobject stored on the first RTG instance 520.

The FE instance 510 obtains periodically and, upon generation of the FEinstance 510, routing information from the RTG configuration map 530.The routing information identifies the storage locations of a pluralityof device objects across a plurality of RTG instances 520. The FEinstance 510 determines whether an identifier of the client device 102is included in the obtained routing information. If so, the FE instance510 receives an update from the client device 102 via the proxy object512 and sends the update to the device object associated with the clientdevice 102 that is stored on the RTG instance. For example, the FEinstance 510 determines that a first device object 522 corresponds tothe identifier of the client device 102 and that the first device object522 is maintained or stored on a first RTG instance 520. In such cases,the proxy object 512 on the FE instance 510 sends updates to the firstdevice object 522 by sending a message directed to the first deviceobject 522 to the first RTG instance 520. The first RTG instance 520also sends back information stored in the first device object 522 to theFE instance 510 that is connected to the client device 102 associatedwith the first device object 522. To do so, the first RTG instance 520determines the unique random identifier assigned to the proxy object 512from which the message is received and stores that identifier in therouting information 529. The first RTG instance 520 uses the identifierstored in the routing information 529 to identify the FE instance 510and proxy object 512 that is currently connected to the client device102. The FE instance 510 provides the information received from the RTGinstance 520 (the contents of the device object 522) via the proxyobject 512 to the client device 102 which then updates a graphical userinterface (e.g., updates locations of friends on a map in real-time).

The FE instance 510 may determine that an identifier of the clientdevice 102 is missing from or is not included in the obtained routinginformation. In such cases, the FE instance 510 instructs one of the RTGinstances 520 to generate a new device object for the client device 102.The FE instance 510 then provides data via the proxy object 512 to thedevice object from the client device 102 or provides data to the clientdevice 102 from the device object.

Each RTG instance 520 stores one or more device objects. For example, afirst RTG instance 520 stores the first device object 522 and a seconddevice object 524. A second RTG instance stores a third device object526. Each RTG instance 520 obtains periodically routing information 529that identifies which device objects are stored in the respective RTGinstance 520. The routing information 529 indicates a range of deviceidentifiers handled by each respective RTG instance 520. The firstdevice object 522 may process an update received from a client device102 and identify one or more friends stored on the first device object522. The first device object 522 generates messages that include theupdate for transmission to the device objects of the friends. A firstmessage can be sent to the second device object 524 directly within thefirst RTG instance 520. A second message that needs to be delivered tothe third device object 526 may be transmitted to the third deviceobject 526 via one or more FE instances 510. Namely, the third deviceobject 526 may be on an RTG instance that is external to the RTGinstance 520 that stores the first device object. In such cases, the RTGinstance 520 selects in a random or cyclic or round-robin manner a givenFE instance 510 or proxy object on one of the FE instances. The RTGinstance 520 sends the message with an identifier of the third deviceobject 526 to the selected FE instance 510 or proxy object. The selectedFE instance 510 receives the message and determines which of the RTGinstances stores the third device object 526 based on the routinginformation 514 stored on the selected FE instance 510. The message isthen sent by the selected FE instance 510 or proxy object to theidentified or determined RTG instance that stores the third deviceobject 526 to update the information for the user associated with thefirst device object 522.

As an example, the first device object 522 may update a location of theclient device 102. This location update may be shared with other friendsof the user of the client device 102. The third device object 526 maystore a list of friends and their respective locations. When the thirddevice object 526 receives an update to the location from the firstdevice object 522, the third device object 526 identifies the userassociated with the first device object 522 and updates the currentlocation stored for the user. An FE instance 510 may establish aconnection with a client device 102 of a friend using another proxyobject stored in the FE instance 510 corresponding to the third deviceobject 526. Upon establishing the connection, the locations of thefriends stored in the third device object 526 are provided to the clientdevice 102 of the friend to update a graphical user interface presentedon the client device 102. In this way, users can receive almost instantupdates to locations of their friends on a map and see their friendsactively moving on the map.

In some examples, the FE instance 510 (e.g., proxy object stored on theFE instance 510) is assigned a random identifier when the FE instance510 is initially generated and stored. Each device object that is storedin the RTG instances is assigned an identifier corresponding to the useridentifier associated with the device object. For example, the firstdevice object 522 is associated with a user of a client device 102 andis assigned an identifier that matches the user identifier of the userof the client device 102 (e.g., a username). In some cases, the FEinstances only communicate with RTG instances and do not communicate orexchange messages directly with each other. In some implementations, thefirst RTG instance 520 stores the random identifier of the proxy object512 stored on the FE instance 510 that transmitted a message to thefirst RTG instance 520. When any device object in the first RTG instance520 needs to send a message back to the proxy object 512, the first RTGinstance 520 uses the stored random identifier to find and route themessage to the appropriate proxy object and then to the correspondingclient device 102.

The arrangement and interaction between FE instances 510 and RTGinstances 520 makes it possible to have many thousands of device objectsin memory without the need to perform complex synchronizationoperations. It also makes the system scalable and allows objects toreside anywhere geographically and on various storage devices in adistributed manner.

In some examples, groups of FE instances 510 and RTG instances 520 aredivided into different geographical regions. For example, a first groupof FE instances 510 and RTG instances 520 are stored in a firstgeographical region (e.g., the United States of America) and a secondgroup of FE instances 510 and RTG instances 520 are stored in a secondgeographical region (e.g., Australia). Messages that are exchangedbetween FE instances 510 and RTG instances 520 in the first group withinthe same geographical region are sent in real-time. Messages that areexchanged between an FE instance 510 in the first group and an FEinstance 510 in the second group are grouped and sent in bulkperiodically. In this way, the number of times messages are sent betweendifferent geographical regions is reduced which better utilizes networkresources and bandwidth.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of a distributed real-timestatus update server(s) 107 across different geographical regions, inaccordance with some examples. Specifically, users are associated withregions in which they are geographically located. For example, a firstuser in a first geographical region is associated with a device objectin the first geographical region. A second user in a second geographicalregion is associated with a device object in the second geographicalregion. The mapping between users and the regions in which they arelocated and consequently their respective device objects are located isstored in a globally replicated database table. This table is shared andcopied across the various geographical regions. In some cases, themapping is updated periodically or in real-time as users move around todifferent geographical regions. In response to determining that a userhas changed geographical regions, a device object stored for the user ina first geographical region is moved or copied to the RTG instance inthe geographical region corresponding to the new user location. In someimplementations, the device object is moved or copied and thegeographical region assigned to the user is updated immediately or afterthe user has remained in the new geographical region for a thresholdnumber of days.

In some examples, the first device object 522 in a first geographicalregion may generate a message directed to a second device object that isin a second geographical region. Specifically, the first device object522 looks up in the globally replicated database the user identifierassociated with the second device object to determine whether the seconddevice object is in the first geographical region. If the second deviceobject is determined to be in the first geographical region, the firstdevice object 522 transmits the message to the RTG instance in which thesecond device object is stored. If the second device object isdetermined to be in the second geographical region, the first deviceobject 522 identifies a first inter-region proxy node corresponding tothe second region. The first inter-region proxy node may be located inthe first geographical region or any other suitable location. The firstdevice object 522 sends via an FE instance 510 to the inter-region proxynode the message with an identifier of the second user and the seconddevice object to the identified inter-region proxy node.

The first inter-region proxy node collects and bundles a plurality ofmessages that are directed from the first geographical region and othergeographical regions. Once the first inter-region proxy node determinesthat a threshold period of time has elapsed since the last time thefirst inter-region proxy node sent a message to a second inter-regionproxy node located in the second geographical region, the firstinter-region proxy node sends the collected and bundled plurality ofmessages to the second inter-region proxy node. In some implementations,once the first inter-region proxy node determines that a thresholdnumber of collected messages has been reached, the first inter-regionproxy node sends the collected and bundled plurality of messages to thesecond inter-region proxy node. The second inter-region proxy nodelocated in the second geographical region receives the bundled messagesfrom the first inter-region proxy node and distributes the messages(e.g., randomly) to FE instances in the second geographical region.Specifically, an FE instance in the second geographical region receivesthe message from the second inter-region proxy node directed to thesecond device object and identifies an RTG instance in the secondgeographical region that includes the second device object. The FEinstance provides the message to the second device object via theidentified RTG instance.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of an RTG instance 520, inaccordance with some examples. The RTG instance 520 is an example of oneof the many RTG instances discussed in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6. Asan example, the RTG instance 520 includes a router 529, a device object522, an input channel 730, a goroutine 720 (or coroutine) and cancommunicate with a remote database 710. In one example, the deviceobject 522 stores various information for a given user, such as the lastknown location of the user, a friends list of the user, friend clustersfor the user, the last update time of the device object 522, status andlocation information for each friend in the friends list or friendclusters.

The device object 522 receives messages via the input channel 730. Forexample, the device object 522 receives a location update for the userassociated with the device object 522 or a friend of the user stored inthe friend list. The device object 522 receives online status updatesfor one or more friends of the user listed in the device object 522. Thegoroutine 720 (or coroutine) can manipulate the device data that isstored in the device object 522. It does so by iterating through themessages received via the input channel 730 and acting on them based onmessage type. At some point, the goroutine 720 may decide that thedevice object is no longer needed. When this happens the device objectis deleted from the graph and the goroutine 720 is terminated. Thegoroutine 720 copies any relevant information that is stored in thedevice object 522 to the remote database 710. This information may beassociated with the user identifier corresponding to the device object522 and is retrieved and copied to a new device object 522 when the newdevice object 522 is created for the same user at some later time.

The device object 522 for a given user is generated whenever a streaminggRPC connection is established between a client device 102 and thedistributed real-time status update server(s), such as with a proxyobject in FE instance 510. In some cases, the device object 522 for thegiven user is generated when a friend of the user sends a messagedirected to the given user. On startup, when the device object 522 isinitially created, the device object 522 retrieves an initial friendslist from the messaging server 114. Then, the device object 522 sends amessage to every device object corresponding to a friend in the initialfriends list. Namely, the device object 522 identifies user identifiersof each friend in the list and sends a message to each device objectassociated with a respective one of the identified user identifiers. Insome cases, the device object 522 only sends the message to thosefriends who are determined to be in an active state (e.g., users who arecurrently online). The message announces that the device object 522 hasjust come online.

After sending messages announcing that the device object 522 has comeonline, the goroutine 720 starts processing messages received on theinput channel 730 in a specific loop. The loop includes processing inputmessages, if any, depending on the types of the message. Namely,different functions may be performed for different types of messages.The goroutine 720 then checks for expired friend locations and deletessuch locations if any are expired. The goroutine 720 checks if the stateneeds to be persisted. The state is persisted if it is dirty and if ithas not been persisted for a threshold period of time. Next, thegoroutine 720 checks for preferences that need to be refreshedperiodically. Optionally, the goroutine 720 next accesses a secondremote source (e.g., third-party source) of user locations to pull ordetermine the current location of the user associated with the deviceobject 522. If the goroutine 720 determines that the pulled locationfrom the second remote source is different by some factor (e.g., exceedsa distance relative to the current location stored for the user in thedevice object 522), the goroutine 720 updates the current location basedon that location retrieved from the second remote source. Finally, thegoroutine 720 checks for inactivity of the client device 102 or userassociated with the device object 522. If the device or user wasinactive for a threshold period of time (e.g., 8 hours), such as if nomessages have been received on the input channel 730 of the deviceobject 522, information from the device object 522 is moved to theremote database 710 and associated with the identifier of the usercorresponding to the device object 522. The device object 522 is thendeleted and the goroutine 720 is terminated. If the device or user wasnot inactive for the threshold period of time, the goroutine 720restarts the loop including processing input messages on the inputchannel 730.

FIG. 8A is a diagrammatic representation of message exchanges betweendevice objects of distributed real-time status update server(s), inaccordance with some examples. As shown in FIG. 8A, a first user 810(e.g., a first client device 102 of the first user 810) sends an update(e.g., a status update or location update) via a streaming gRPCconnection to a first device object 830 associated with the first user810. The links between the nodes shown in FIG. 8A show the direction ofthe data flow and thicknesses of the links show the types of connections(e.g., real-time data exchanges or rate-limited data exchanges).

In one example, the first device object 830 receives a location updatefrom the first user 810. In response, the first device object 830 pushesthe location update to a second device object 832 corresponding to thesecond user 820. The second user 820 also provides a location update tothe second device object 832 associated with the second user 820. Thesecond device object 832 also pushes the location update from the seconduser 820 to the first device object 830 over the streaming gRPCconnection 840. Once the first device object 830 receives the update tothe location from the second device object 832, the first device object830 identifies an entry in the first device object 830 that correspondsto the second user 820 and updates the location stored in the entry withthe updated location received from the second device object 832.

The first device object 830 also pushes the location update to a thirddevice object 834 corresponding to a third user. The third user may notbe sending location updates back to the first user and, in suchcircumstances, the third device object 834 only receives the locationupdate from the first device object 830 but does not send back locationinformation to the first device object 830.

In some implementations, the location updates are exchanged between thefirst device object 830 and the second device object 832 in real-time.Namely, as the first device object 830 receives a location update fromthe first user 810, the first device object 830 immediately sends theupdate to the second device object 832. This may be performed inresponse to the first device object 830 determining that the second user820 associated with the second device object 832 has a status indicatingthat the second user 820 needs real-time location information. Forexample, if the second user 820 is currently viewing an interactive mapthat displays locations of friends of the second user 820, this statusis transmitted and stored in an entry for the friend in the first deviceobject 830. The first device object 830 based on determining that thestatus of the second user 820 is viewing an interactive map thatdisplays locations of friends, sends updates to the location receivedfrom the first user 810 in real-time as updates are received to thesecond device object 832. Also, the second device object 832 determinesthat the first user 810 is also viewing the interactive map of locationsof friends and so may share the location updates received from thesecond user 820 in real-time with the first device object 830.

The first device object 830 may store a status for the third userassociated with the third device object 834 indicating that the thirduser currently has the messaging client 104 open but is not viewing theinteractive map that displays locations of friends. In this case, thefirst device object 830 may send or share the location updates receivedfrom the first user 810 periodically with the third device object 834rather than in real-time over a rate-limited link 841. Namely, the firstdevice object 830 may only send updates to the locations of the firstuser 810 to the third device object 834 if the location of the firstuser 810 satisfies a first condition (e.g., changes by more than a firstthreshold amount or if the location was last sent to the third deviceobject 834 more than a first threshold amount of time ago (e.g., theelapsed time since the last update to the location was sent to the thirddevice object 834 exceeds a first threshold)). This way, locationupdates of the first user 810 may be sent in real-time to some users butperiodically or not at all to other users simultaneously.

The first device object 830 may store a status for a fourth userassociated with a fourth device object 836 indicating that the fourthuser is currently inactive. In this case, the first device object 830may send or share the location updates received from the first user 810periodically with the fourth device object 836 rather than in real-timeover a further rate-limited link 842 or may not share the location atall. Further rate-limited link 842 is rate-limited further than therate-limited link 841. The rate-limited link 841 may allow exchanges oflocations or locations to be sent to the third device object 834 when afirst condition is satisfied. The further rate-limited link 842 mayallow exchanges of locations or locations to be sent to the fourthdevice object 836 when a second condition is satisfied and the firstcondition is not satisfied. Namely, the first device object 830 may onlysend updates to the locations of the first user 810 to the fourth deviceobject 836 if the location of the first user 810 satisfies a secondcondition (e.g., changes by more than a second threshold amount or ifthe location was last sent to the fourth device object 836 more than asecond threshold amount of time ago (e.g., the elapsed time since thelast update to the location was sent to the fourth device object 836exceeds a second threshold)). Specifically, the location updates sharedwith the fourth device object 836 may be further restricted relative tothose location updates shared with the third device object 834 becausethe fourth user does not have a need to see location information for thefirst user 810. The second threshold amounts that are used to restrictthe updates sent to the fourth device object 834 are greater than thefirst threshold amounts used to restrict the updates sent to the thirddevice object 834.

FIG. 8B is a diagrammatic representation of message exchanges betweendevice objects of distributed real-time status update server(s), inaccordance with some examples. As shown in FIG. 8B, online update (OU)represents messages sent between device to announce their onlinepresence and then periodically to indicate that a device object is stillonline. Online updates are sent to the device objects from a clientdevice 102 when the client device 102 comes online. Location update (LU)is sent to a device object when a client device 102 transmits a locationupdate. A friend location update (FLU) is sent between device objectswhen a user shares a location with their friends. A delete locationupdate (DLU) is sent when a device object wants all other device objectsto delete its location, such as when a given user enters ghost mode anddoes not want their location to be known. Preferences update (PU) issent when preferences for a user are updated so that the device objectretrieves and updates stored preference. Message received update (MRU)is sent to acknowledge message receipt between device objects.

FIG. 8B provides an example message exchange when a device objectinitially comes online. When the device object (e.g., device object A)comes online and is first initialized, the device object sends onlineupdate (OU) to all of its friends (e.g., device objects B, C and D ofthe friends of device object A). Each friend device object B, C, and Dresponds in one of three ways. For example, a first friend object Bresponse with an FLU which indicates the location of the friend storedin the first friend object B. This happens when the device objectreceiving the OU is sharing its location with the device object of theuser from which OU message was received. The device object A then storesthe location received in the FLU message from first friend object B inan entry for the first friend in the device object A.

A second friend object C responds to the OU message received from deviceobject A with an online update (OU). This happens when the device objectreceiving the OU is not sharing the location with the device object Afrom which the OU message was received but is online (e.g., has a clientdevice 102 physically connected to the second friend object C via acorresponding FE instance 510) and is interested in receiving locationupdates from the user associated with the device object A. Namely, thesecond friend may desire to see or know the location of the userassociated with the device object A but may not be interested in sharingtheir location with the user associated with the device object A.

A third friend object D responds to the OU message received from deviceobject A with an MRU message. This happens when the device objectreceiving the OU is not sharing the location with the device object Afrom which the OU message was received and is also not interested inreceiving location updates from the user associated with the deviceobject A, such as because the third friend object D is offline (e.g.,does not have a client device 102 physically connected to the thirdfriend object D via a corresponding FE instance 510). Namely, the thirdfriend may not desire to see or know the location of the user associatedwith the device object A and may not be interested in sharing theirlocation with the user associated with the device object A.

FIG. 8C is a diagrammatic representation of message exchanges betweendevice objects of distributed real-time status update server(s), inaccordance with some examples. As shown in FIG. 8C, in step 1: deviceobject A initially comes online and transmits OU messages to all of thefriends listed in the device object A. In step 2: to handle each OUmessage received from the device object A, a new device object (e.g., anoffline device object, represented by a dashed circle) is created (B, C,D, and E) for each of the friends. Since none of the friends is onlineor has a recent location to share, each of the device objects B, C, D,and E responds to the OU message received from device object A with anMRU message.

In step 3: a given friend has a client device 102 that establishes aconnection to the device object C via an FE instance 510. This resultsin device object C coming online—the device object C is switched frombeing an offline device object to an online device object (representedby a solid circle). In response, device object C transmits an OU messageto all of the friends of device object C including device object A. Thedevice object A responds to the OU message received from device object Cwith an FLU message to indicate to the device object C the currentlocation of the user stored in the device object A. In step 4: deviceobjects A and C establish connections based on the fact that they bothare online and sharing locations with each other. They continueexchanging FLU messages to provide location updates to each other. Atthe same time, the other device objects B, D and E are deleted after aperiod of inactivity or after a threshold period of time has elapsedsince an event associated with the device objects has taken place. Forexample, device object B is deleted if a threshold amount of time haselapsed since the device object B was created and a corresponding clientdevice 102 has not established a connection with an FE instance 510within the threshold amount of time to bring the device objects online.As another example, device object C is deleted if a threshold amount oftime has elapsed since the device object C was created and furthermessages have not been received by the device object C (e.g., from otherusers or further messages from device object A).

In some examples, an offline device object only stores the locationinformation or location sharing preferences of a corresponding user. Anonline device object includes additional information not included in theoffline object, such as, a list of friends of the first user, status ofconnection of the client device with the first device object, status ofconnection of client devices of the friends with respective deviceobjects, a last time when each of the friends was active, a thread ofexecution that provides an estimate of the location of the first userand estimated locations of the friends.

In step 5: the device object C goes offline (e.g., because the clientdevice 102 that initially connected to the device object C via the FEinstance 510 has been disconnected for a threshold period of time). Inresponse, the device object C stops sending FLU messages to deviceobject A but device object A continues sending FLU messages to deviceobject C for a threshold period of time. In step 6: since device objectA has not received FLU messages from device object C for a thresholdperiod of time, device object A stops sending FLU messages to deviceobject C. Device objects A and C are deleted from the graph after theystop processing messages for some time (e.g., they did not receivemessages from other device objects or they did not receive messages froma client device 102 associated with the respective device objects).

While FIGS. 8B and 8C were discussed in terms of location updates beingshared, similar functionality apply to sharing any other type of update(e.g., status updates). In this case, instead of sending FLU messagesand LU messages, the device exchange status update messages orpreference update messages.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of sending updates based ondifferent friend list versions, in accordance with some examples. Insome examples, with every location update (LU) message a given clientdevice 102 provides and sends to the corresponding device object, theclient device 102 also provides a friends list version number. Thisensures that the friends list that the device object of the clientdevice 102 uses to send location updates to other device objectsreflects the most recent changes to the user's friends list. This way,if a given user deletes a friend or temporarily desires to preclude thefriend from receiving location updates from the user, the device objectof the given user does not continue sharing the location updates basedon a stale copy of the friends list or preferences.

For example, as discussed above, on startup, the device object 930 for agiven user (user A) retrieves the current friend list 932 from themessaging server 114. This is the friends list that the device object930 uses to send OU messages to the friend device objects. At thispoint, the client device 102 associated with the device object 930 alsohas the same friends list and thus both share the same version number(e.g., 1000). At some later point, the user A updates the friends list(e.g., unfriends a person on the friends list). In response, the clientdevice 102 updates (increments) the version number of the friends listand creates a friends list 910 with a new version number. The update issent to the messaging server 114. Shortly thereafter, the client device102 sends a location update 920 to the distributed real-time statusupdate server(s) 107 and specifically to the device object 930. Thislocation update 920 includes the new version number of the friends list.The device object 930 compares the version number received from thelocation update with the current version number that is stored on thedevice object 930. In response to determining that the version numberthat is stored on the device object 930 differs from the version numberof the friends list received in the location update, the device object930 prevents temporarily further location updates (FLU messages) frombeing sent to the friend device objects (B, C, D, and E).

The device object 930 communicates with the messaging server 114 or theclient device 102 to obtain the latest friends list corresponding to theversion number received in the location update. This synchronizes thefriends list stored on the device object 930 with the friends liststored or recently changed by the user of the client device 102corresponding to the device object 930. Once the friends list isupdated, the device object 930 continues to send the FLU messages withthe location update to the friends on the updated friends list.

FIG. 10A is a flowchart illustrating example operations of thedistributed real-time status update server(s) 107 in performing process1000, according to examples. The process 1000 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more processorssuch that the operations of the process 1000 may be performed in part orin whole by the functional components of the distributed real-timestatus update server(s) 107; accordingly, the process 1000 is describedbelow by way of example with reference thereto. However, in otherexamples at least some of the operations of the process 1000 may bedeployed on various other hardware configurations, such as onapplication servers 112. The operations in the process 1000 can beperformed in any order, in parallel, or may be entirely skipped andomitted

At operation 1001, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107stores a front-end (FE) instance and a plurality of real-time graph(RTG) instances, each of the plurality of RTG instances includes aplurality of device objects, the FE instance being configured tocommunicate with a client device associated with a first user. Forexample, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107 storesone or more FE instances 510 and one or more RTG instances 520. The FEinstance 510 includes a proxy object configured to communicate with aclient device 102 and the RTG instance includes one or more deviceobjects (e.g., online or offline device objects).

At operation 1002, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107establishes a bi-directional streaming remote procedure call (RPC)connection between the FE instance and the plurality of RTG instances.For example, the FE instance 510 establishes the RPC connection with theone or more RTG instances 520.

At operation 1003, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107receives, by the FE instance, a status update from the client device.For example, the proxy object 512 of the FE instance 510 receives alocation update from a client device 102 over a real-time streamingconnection with the client device 102.

At operation 1004, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107determines, by the FE instance, that a first device object correspondingto the client device is stored on a first RTG instance of the pluralityof RTG instances. For example, the FE instance 510 identifies the deviceobject 522 and which of the RTG instances 520 stores the identifieddevice object 522, such as by accessing the routing information 514.

At operation 1005, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107transmits a first message comprising the status update from the FEinstance to the first RTG instance to update the first device object.For example, the FE instance 510 transmits the location update receivedfrom the client device 102 over the gRPC connection to the device object522 in the identified RTG instance 520.

FIG. 10B is a flowchart illustrating example operations of thedistributed real-time status update server(s) 107 in performing process1001, according to examples. The process 1001 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more processorssuch that the operations of the process 1001 may be performed in part orin whole by the functional components of the distributed real-timestatus update server(s) 107, accordingly, the process 1001 is describedbelow by way of example with reference thereto. However, in otherexamples at least some of the operations of the process 1001 may bedeployed on various other hardware configurations, such as onapplication servers 112. The operations in the process 1001 can beperformed in any order, in parallel, or may be entirely skipped andomitted

At operation 1011, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107stores one or more front-end (FE) instances and a plurality of real-timegraph (RTG) instances. For example, the distributed real-time statusupdate server(s) 107 stores one or more FE instances 510 and one or moreRTG instances 520. The FE instance 510 includes a proxy objectconfigured to communicate with a client device 102 and the RTG instanceincludes one or more device objects (e.g., online or offline deviceobjects).

At operation 1012, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107receives, by a first online device object associated with a given user,an update from a first client device of the given user. For example, asshown in step 1 of FIG. 8C, the online device object A receives alocation update from an FE instance 510 coupled to a first client deviceof a given user.

At operation 1013, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107generates, by the first online device object, a message that includesthe update for transmission to a plurality of friends of the given user.For example, as shown in steps 1 and 2 of FIG. 8C, the online deviceobject A sends OU messages to device objects of friends of the givenuser, such as device objects B, C, D and E.

At operation 1014, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107stores, on a given one of the plurality of RTG instances, an offlinedevice object for a first friend of the plurality of friends and asecond online device object for a second friend of the plurality offriends. For example, as shown in step 3 of FIG. 8C, the distributedreal-time status update server(s) 107 stores an offline device object B(shown in a dashed circle) and an online device object C (shown in asolid circle).

At operation 1015, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107transmits, by the first online device object, the message that includesthe update to the offline device object of the first friend and thesecond online device object of the second friend. For example, as shownin steps 1-3 of FIG. 8C, the online device object A sends OU messages tothe offline device object B (shown in a dashed circle) and the onlinedevice object C (shown in a solid circle).

FIG. 10C is a flowchart illustrating example operations of thedistributed real-time status update server(s) 107 in performing process1002, according to examples. The process 1002 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more processorssuch that the operations of the process 1002 may be performed in part orin whole by the functional components of the distributed real-timestatus update server(s) 107, accordingly, the process 1002 is describedbelow by way of example with reference thereto. However, in otherexamples at least some of the operations of the process 1002 may bedeployed on various other hardware configurations, such as onapplication servers 112. The operations in the process 1002 can beperformed in any order, in parallel, or may be entirely skipped andomitted

At operation 1021, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107stores a plurality of real-time graph (RTG) instances that include aplurality of device objects. For example, the distributed real-timestatus update server(s) 107 stores one or more FE instances 510 and oneor more RTG instances 520. The FE instance 510 includes a proxy objectconfigured to communicate with a client device 102 and the RTG instanceincludes one or more device objects (e.g., online or offline deviceobjects).

At operation 1022, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107receives, by a first device object of the plurality of device objects, astatus update from a client device associated with a first user. Forexample, the proxy object 512 of the FE instance 510 receives a locationupdate from a client device 102 associated with the first user 810 overa real-time streaming connection with the client device 102. The proxyobject 512 provides the location update to the first device object 830associated with the first user 810.

At operation 1023, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107transmits, by the first device object, a first message comprising thestatus update to a second device object associated with a second userover a real-time link. For example, the first device object 830transmits the location update over a real-time link 840 to the seconddevice object 832 associated with the second user 820.

At operation 1024, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107transmits, by the first device object, a second message comprising thestatus update to a third device object associated with a third user overa first rate-limited link. For example, the first device object 830transmits the location update over a rate-limited link 841 to the thirddevice object 834 associated with a third user.

FIG. 10D is a flowchart illustrating example operations of thedistributed real-time status update server(s) 107 in performing process1003, according to examples. The process 1003 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more processorssuch that the operations of the process 1003 may be performed in part orin whole by the functional components of the distributed real-timestatus update server(s) 107, accordingly, the process 1003 is describedbelow by way of example with reference thereto. However, in otherexamples at least some of the operations of the process 1003 may bedeployed on various other hardware configurations, such as onapplication servers 112. The operations in the process 1003 can beperformed in any order, in parallel, or may be entirely skipped andomitted

At operation 1031, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107stores a plurality of real-time graph (RTG) instances that include aplurality of device objects, the plurality of device objects comprisinga first device object associated with a given user. For example, thedistributed real-time status update server(s) 107 stores one or more FEinstances 510 and one or more RTG instances 520. The FE instance 510includes a proxy object configured to communicate with a client device102 and the RTG instance includes one or more device objects (e.g.,online or offline device objects).

At operation 1032, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107receives, by the first device object, a friends list of the given userhaving a first version identifier. For example, the device object 930receives a friends list of a user A from a messaging server 114. Thefriends list has a version number 1000.

At operation 1033, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107receives, by the first device object, an update from a client deviceassociated with the given user, the update comprising a friends listversion identifier. For example, the device object 930 receives alocation update from a client device 102 associated with the user A. Thelocation update includes a version identifier of the friends listlocally accessed or stored by the client device 102. The versionidentifier may have a version number of 1001. As an example, the clientdevice 102 may have un-friended a given friend or changed a parameter toprevent location sharing with a given friend on the friends list. Inresponse, the client device 102 may update the friends list on themessaging server 114 and increment the version identifier of the friendslist.

At operation 1034, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107determines that the first version identifier of the friends list in thefirst device object mismatches the friends list version identifier inthe update. For example, the device object 930 compares the versionidentifier stored by the device object 930 with the version identifierreceived in the update to ensure that the device object 930 operates onthe most recent version of the friends list. The device object 930performs this comparison before sending further updates to any deviceobjects of the friends of the given user.

At operation 1035, the distributed real-time status update server(s) 107synchronizes the friends list in the first device object prior tosending one or more messages that include the update to other deviceobjects of the plurality of device objects. For example, in response tothe device object 930 determining that the current version identifier(e.g., 1000) does not match the version identifier (e.g., 1001) receivedin the update, the device object 930 accesses the friends list from themessaging server 114 or client device 102 prior to sending furtherupdates to the device objects associated with the friends of the givenuser.

Machine Architecture

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of the machine 1100 withinwhich instructions 1108 (e.g., software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code) for causing the machine 1100to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein may beexecuted. For example, the instructions 1108 may cause the machine 1100to execute any one or more of the methods described herein. Theinstructions 1108 transform the general, non-programmed machine 1100into a particular machine 1100 programmed to carry out the described andillustrated functions in the manner described. The machine 1100 mayoperate as a standalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) toother machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1100 may operatein the capacity of a server machine or a client machine in aserver-client network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine 1100 maycomprise, but not be limited to, a server computer, a client computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook,a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), anentertainment media system, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a mobiledevice, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch), a smart home device(e.g., a smart appliance), other smart devices, a web appliance, anetwork router, a network switch, a network bridge, or any machinecapable of executing the instructions 1108, sequentially or otherwise,that specify actions to be taken by the machine 1100. Further, whileonly a single machine 1100 is illustrated, the term “machine” shall alsobe taken to include a collection of machines that individually orjointly execute the instructions 1108 to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein. The machine 1100, for example, maycomprise the client device 102 or any one of a number of server devicesforming part of the messaging server system 108. In some examples, themachine 1100 may also comprise both client and server systems, withcertain operations of a particular method or algorithm being performedon the server-side and with certain operations of the particular methodor algorithm being performed on the client-side.

The machine 1100 may include processors 1102, memory 1104, andinput/output (I/O) components 1138, which may be configured tocommunicate with each other via a bus 1140. In an example, theprocessors 1102 (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a ReducedInstruction Set Computing (RISC) Processor, a Complex Instruction SetComputing (CISC) Processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a DigitalSignal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), another processor,or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, aprocessor 1106 and a processor 1110 that execute the instructions 1108.The term “processor” is intended to include multi-core processors thatmay comprise two or more independent processors (sometimes referred toas “cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously. AlthoughFIG. 11 shows multiple processors 1102, the machine 1100 may include asingle processor with a single-core, a single processor with multiplecores (e.g., a multi-core processor), multiple processors with a singlecore, multiple processors with multiples cores, or any combinationthereof.

The memory 1104 includes a main memory 1112, a static memory 1114, and astorage unit 1116, all accessible to the processors 1102 via the bus1140. The main memory 1104, the static memory 1114, and the storage unit1116 store the instructions 1108 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1108 mayalso reside, completely or partially, within the main memory 1112,within the static memory 1114, within machine-readable medium 1118within the storage unit 1116, within at least one of the processors 1102(e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or any suitable combinationthereof, during execution thereof by the machine 1100.

The I/O components 1138 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 1138 that are included in a particular machine will depend onthe type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobilephones may include a touch input device or other such input mechanisms,while a headless server machine will likely not include such a touchinput device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 1138 mayinclude many other components that are not shown in FIG. 11. In variousexamples, the I/O components 1138 may include user output components1124 and user input components 1126. The user output components 1124 mayinclude visual components (e.g., a display such as a plasma displaypanel (PDP), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acousticcomponents (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor,resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and so forth. The userinput components 1126 may include alphanumeric input components (e.g., akeyboard, a touch screen configured to receive alphanumeric input, aphoto-optical keyboard, or other alphanumeric input components),point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, a touchpad, a trackball, ajoystick, a motion sensor, or another pointing instrument), tactileinput components (e.g., a physical button, a touch screen that provideslocation and force of touches or touch gestures, or other tactile inputcomponents), audio input components (e.g., a microphone), and the like.

In further examples, the I/O components 1138 may include biometriccomponents 1128, motion components 1130, environmental components 1132,or position components 1134, among a wide array of other components. Forexample, the biometric components 1128 include components to detectexpressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocalexpressions, body gestures, or eye-tracking), measure biosignals (e.g.,blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brainwaves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinalidentification, facial identification, fingerprint identification, orelectroencephalogram-based identification), and the like. The motioncomponents 1130 include acceleration sensor components (e.g.,accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, rotation sensorcomponents (e.g., gyroscope).

The environmental components 1132 include, for example, one or cameras(with still image/photograph and video capabilities), illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment.

With respect to cameras, the client device 102 may have a camera systemcomprising, for example, front cameras on a front surface of the clientdevice 102 and rear cameras on a rear surface of the client device 102.The front cameras may, for example, be used to capture still images andvideo of a user of the client device 102 (e.g., “selfies”), which maythen be augmented with augmentation data (e.g., filters) describedabove. The rear cameras may, for example, be used to capture stillimages and videos in a more traditional camera mode, with these imagessimilarly being augmented with augmentation data. In addition to frontand rear cameras, the client device 102 may also include a 3600 camerafor capturing 360° photographs and videos.

Further, the camera system of a client device 102 may include dual rearcameras (e.g., a primary camera as well as a depth-sensing camera), oreven triple, quad or penta rear camera configurations on the front andrear sides of the client device 102. These multiple cameras systems mayinclude a wide camera, an ultra-wide camera, a telephoto camera, a macrocamera, and a depth sensor, for example.

The position components 1134 include location sensor components (e.g., aGPS receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters orbarometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived),orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1138 further include communication components 1136operable to couple the machine 1100 to a network 1120 or devices 1122via respective coupling or connections. For example, the communicationcomponents 1136 may include a network interface component or anothersuitable device to interface with the network 1120. In further examples,the communication components 1136 may include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1122 may be another machine or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a USB).

Moreover, the communication components 1136 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 1136 may include Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components1136, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting an NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

The various memories (e.g., main memory 1112, static memory 1114, andmemory of the processors 1102) and storage unit 1116 may store one ormore sets of instructions and data structures (e.g., software) embodyingor used by any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. These instructions (e.g., the instructions 1108), when executedby processors 1102, cause various operations to implement the disclosedexamples.

The instructions 1108 may be transmitted or received over the network1120, using a transmission medium, via a network interface device (e.g.,a network interface component included in the communication components1136) and using any one of several well-known transfer protocols (e.g.,hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)). Similarly, the instructions 1108may be transmitted or received using a transmission medium via acoupling (e.g., a peer-to-peer coupling) to the devices 1122.

Software Architecture

FIG. 12 is a block diagram 1200 illustrating a software architecture1204, which can be installed on any one or more of the devices describedherein. The software architecture 1204 is supported by hardware such asa machine 1202 that includes processors 1220, memory 1226, and I/Ocomponents 1238. In this example, the software architecture 1204 can beconceptualized as a stack of layers, where each layer provides aparticular functionality. The software architecture 1204 includes layerssuch as an operating system 1212, libraries 1210, frameworks 1208, andapplications 1206. Operationally, the applications 1206 invoke API calls1250 through the software stack and receive messages 1252 in response tothe API calls 1250.

The operating system 1212 manages hardware resources and provides commonservices. The operating system 1212 includes, for example, a kernel1214, services 1216, and drivers 1222. The kernel 1214 acts as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 1214 provides memory management, processormanagement (e.g., scheduling), component management, networking, andsecurity settings, among other functionality. The services 1216 canprovide other common services for the other software layers. The drivers1222 are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlyinghardware. For instance, the drivers 1222 can include display drivers,camera drivers, BLUETOOTH® or BLUETOOTH® Low Energy drivers, flashmemory drivers, serial communication drivers (e.g., USB drivers), WI-FI®drivers, audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth.

The libraries 1210 provide a common low-level infrastructure used by theapplications 1206. The libraries 1210 can include system libraries 1218(e.g., C standard library) that provide functions such as memoryallocation functions, string manipulation functions, mathematicfunctions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 1210 can include APIlibraries 1224 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries to supportpresentation and manipulation of various media formats such as MovingPicture Experts Group-4 (MPEG4), Advanced Video Coding (H.264 or AVC),Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 (MP3), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC),Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) audio codec, Joint Photographic Experts Group(JPEG or JPG), or Portable Network Graphics (PNG)), graphics libraries(e.g., an OpenGL framework used to render in two dimensions (2D) andthree dimensions (3D) in a graphic content on a display), databaselibraries (e.g., SQLite to provide various relational databasefunctions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit to provide web browsingfunctionality), and the like. The libraries 1210 can also include a widevariety of other libraries 1228 to provide many other APIs to theapplications 1206.

The frameworks 1208 provide a common high-level infrastructure that isused by the applications 1206. For example, the frameworks 1208 providevarious graphical user interface (GUI) functions, high-level resourcemanagement, and high-level location services. The frameworks 1208 canprovide a broad spectrum of other APIs that can be used by theapplications 1206, some of which may be specific to a particularoperating system or platform.

In an example, the applications 1206 may include a home application1236, a contacts application 1230, a browser application 1232, a bookreader application 1234, a location application 1242, a mediaapplication 1244, a messaging application 1246, a game application 1248,and a broad assortment of other applications such as a third-partyapplication 1240. The applications 1206 are programs that executefunctions defined in the programs. Various programming languages can beemployed to create one or more of the applications 1206, structured in avariety of manners, such as object-oriented programming languages (e.g.,Objective-C, Java, or C++) or procedural programming languages (e.g., Cor assembly language). In a specific example, the third-partyapplication 1240 (e.g., an application developed using the ANDROID™ orIOS™ software development kit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendorof the particular platform) may be mobile software running on a mobileoperating system such as IOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or anothermobile operating system. In this example, the third-party application1240 can invoke the API calls 1250 provided by the operating system 1212to facilitate functionality described herein.

Glossary

“Carrier signal” refers to any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine, and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible media to facilitate communication of such instructions.Instructions may be transmitted or received over a network using atransmission medium via a network interface device.

“Client device” refers to any machine that interfaces to acommunications network to obtain resources from one or more serversystems or other client devices. A client device may be, but is notlimited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop, portable digitalassistants (PDAs), smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks, netbooks, laptops,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, game consoles, set-top boxes, or any other communicationdevice that a user may use to access a network.

“Communication network” refers to one or more portions of a network thatmay be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi®network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more suchnetworks. For example, a network or a portion of a network may include awireless or cellular network and the coupling may be a Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System for Mobilecommunications (GSM) connection, or other types of cellular or wirelesscoupling. In this example, the coupling may implement any of a varietyof types of data transfer technology, such as Single Carrier RadioTransmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO)technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, EnhancedData rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, third GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generation wireless (4G)networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High SpeedPacket Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, others defined by variousstandard-setting organizations, other long-range protocols, or otherdata transfer technology.

“Component” refers to a device, physical entity, or logic havingboundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branch points, APIs,or other technologies that provide for the partitioning ormodularization of particular processing or control functions. Componentsmay be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry outa machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardwareunit designed for use with other components and a part of a program thatusually performs a particular function of related functions.

Components may constitute either software components (e.g., codeembodied on a machine-readable medium) or hardware components. A“hardware component” is a tangible unit capable of performing certainoperations and may be configured or arranged in a certain physicalmanner. In various examples, one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone computer system, a client computer system, or a servercomputer system) or one or more hardware components of a computer system(e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured bysoftware (e.g., an application or application portion) as a hardwarecomponent that operates to perform certain operations as describedherein.

A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardwarecomponent may be a special-purpose processor, such as afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC). A hardware component may also includeprogrammable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configured bysoftware to perform certain operations. For example, a hardwarecomponent may include software executed by a general-purpose processoror other programmable processor. Once configured by such software,hardware components become specific machines (or specific components ofa machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configured functions and areno longer general-purpose processors. It will be appreciated that thedecision to implement a hardware component mechanically, in dedicatedand permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configuredcircuitry (e.g., configured by software), may be driven by cost and timeconsiderations. Accordingly, the phrase “hardware component” (or“hardware-implemented component”) should be understood to encompass atangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed,permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured(e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certainoperations described herein.

Considering examples in which hardware components are temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need notbe configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processorconfigured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respectively differentspecial-purpose processors (e.g., comprising different hardwarecomponents) at different times. Software accordingly configures aparticular processor or processors, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware component at one instance of time and to constitutea different hardware component at a different instance of time.

Hardware components can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inexamples in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access. For example, one hardware component mayperform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memorydevice to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardwarecomponent may then, at a later time, access the memory device toretrieve and process the stored output. Hardware components may alsoinitiate communications with input or output devices, and can operate ona resource (e.g., a collection of information).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors.Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors 1102 orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processorsmay also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and viaone or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API). The performance ofcertain of the operations may be distributed among the processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some examples, the processors or processor-implementedcomponents may be located in a single geographic location (e.g., withina home environment, an office environment, or a server farm). In otherexamples, the processors or processor-implemented components may bedistributed across a number of geographic locations.

“Computer-readable storage medium” refers to both machine-storage mediaand transmission media. Thus, the terms include both storagedevices/media and carrier waves/modulated data signals. The terms“machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable medium” and“device-readable medium” mean the same thing and may be usedinterchangeably in this disclosure.

“Ephemeral message” refers to a message that is accessible for atime-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be a text, an image, avideo and the like. The access time for the ephemeral message may be setby the message sender. Alternatively, the access time may be a defaultsetting or a setting specified by the recipient. Regardless of thesetting technique, the message is transitory.

“Machine storage medium” refers to a single or multiple storage devicesand media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and associatedcaches and servers) that store executable instructions, routines anddata. The term shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limitedto, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media, includingmemory internal or external to processors. Specific examples ofmachine-storage media, computer-storage media and device-storage mediainclude non-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductormemory devices, e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), FPGA, andflash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks andremovable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks Theterms “machine-storage medium,” “device-storage medium,”“computer-storage medium” mean the same thing and may be usedinterchangeably in this disclosure. The terms “machine-storage media,”“computer-storage media,” and “device-storage media” specificallyexclude carrier waves, modulated data signals, and other such media, atleast some of which are covered under the term “signal medium.”

“Non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” refers to a tangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying theinstructions for execution by a machine.

“Signal medium” refers to any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying the instructions for execution by amachine and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible media to facilitate communication of software or data. Theterm “signal medium” shall be taken to include any form of a modulateddata signal, carrier wave, and so forth. The term “modulated datasignal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics setor changed in such a matter as to encode information in the signal. Theterms “transmission medium” and “signal medium” mean the same thing andmay be used interchangeably in this disclosure.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed examples withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. These and otherchanges or modifications are intended to be included within the scope ofthe present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: storing, on a distributedstorage system, a front-end (FE) instance and a plurality of real-timegraph (RTG) instances, each of the plurality of RTG instances includes aplurality of device objects, the FE instance being configured tocommunicate with a client device associated with a first user;establishing a bi-directional streaming remote procedure call (RPC)connection between the FE instance and the plurality of RTG instances;receiving, by the FE instance, a status update from the client device;determining, by the FE instance, that a first device objectcorresponding to the client device is stored on a first RTG instance ofthe plurality of RTG instances; transmitting a first message comprisingthe status update from the FE instance to the first RTG instance toupdate the first device object; generating, by the first RTG instance, asecond message comprising the status update for transmission to a seconddevice object corresponding to a second user; and selecting betweentransmitting the second message to the second device object andtransmitting the second message to the FE instance.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the FE instance comprises a proxy object and routinginformation, a first portion of routing information indicates that thefirst RTG instance comprises a first subset of the plurality of deviceobjects and that a second RTG instance of the plurality of RTG instancescomprises a second subset of the plurality of device objects.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the first RTG instance comprises a secondportion of routing information that identifies the first subset of theplurality of device objects handled by the first RTG instance.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, further comprising: storing the first and secondportions of routing information on a real-time graph configuration map;and periodically updating the first and second portions stored on the FEinstance and the first RTG instance.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining that the second device object is included in thefirst RTG instance; and the selecting causing transmission of the secondmessage to the second device object within the first RTG to updateinformation associated with the first user included in the second deviceobject.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining thatthe second device object is not included in the first RTG instance; andthe selecting causing transmission transmitting, by the first RTGinstance, of the second message to the FE instance, the second messagebeing directed to the second device object.
 7. The method of claim 6,further comprising: determining, by the FE instance, that the seconddevice object is stored on a second RTG instance of the plurality of RTGinstances; and transmitting the second message from the FE instance tothe second RTG instance to update information associated with the firstuser included in the second device object.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving a status update from a second clientdevice; and generating a second FE instance in response to receiving thestatus update from the second client device, the second FE instancehaving a bi-directional streaming RPC connection to the plurality of RTGinstances.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: determining, bythe second FE instance, that an identifier of the second client deviceis missing from routing information included in the second FE instance;and in response to determining, by the second FE instance, that theidentifier of the second client device is missing from the routinginformation, adding a device object corresponding to the second clientdevice to a given one of the RTG instances.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the FE instance is a first FE instance, further comprising:selecting, by the first RTG instance, either the first FE instance orthe second FE instance; and sending a third message from the firstdevice object to the second device object via the selected first FEinstance or second FE instance.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein thefirst FE instance or second FE instance is at least one of randomlyselected or selected in round robin manner.
 12. The method of claim 1,wherein the first message comprises location information or locationsharing preferences of the first user, the selecting being based ondetermining whether the second device object is included in the firstRTG instance.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first deviceobject is an offline device object that only stores the locationinformation or location sharing preferences of the first user.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the first device object is an online deviceobject that includes a list of friends of the first user, status ofconnection of the client device with the first device object, status ofconnection of client devices of the friends with respective deviceobjects, a last time when each of the friends was active, a thread ofexecution that provides an estimate of the location of the first userand estimated locations of the friends.
 15. The method of claim 1,further comprising moving data from the FE instance to a databasestorage location and deleting the FE instance after a threshold periodof time.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the FE instance and theplurality of RTG instances are associated with a first geographicalregion, further comprising: establishing a connection between the FEinstance and an inter-region proxy node; determining that the seconddevice object is associated with a second geographical region; andtransmitting the second message to the inter-region proxy node.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising: storing the second message amonga plurality of messages directed to device objects in the secondgeographical region; and after a threshold time interval or after athreshold number of messages are stored by the inter-region proxy node,transmitting the plurality of messages to a proxy node in the secondgeographical region, wherein the proxy node in the second geographicalregion routes the messages to respective device objects in the secondgeographical region.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the thresholdtime interval or threshold number of messages of the second geographicalregion differs from the threshold time interval or threshold number ofmessages of a third geographical region.
 19. A system comprising: aprocessor configured to perform operations comprising: storing, on adistributed storage system, a front-end (FE) instance and a plurality ofreal-time graph (RTG) instances, each of the plurality of RTG instancesincludes a plurality of device objects, the FE instance being configuredto communicate with a client device associated with a first user;establishing a bi-directional streaming remote procedure call (RPC)connection between the FE instance and the plurality of RTG instances;receiving, by the FE instance, a status update from the client device;determining, by the FE instance, that a first device objectcorresponding to the client device is stored on a first RTG instance ofthe plurality of RTG instances; transmitting a first message comprisingthe status update from the FE instance to the first RTG instance toupdate the first device object; generating, by the first RTG instance, asecond message comprising the status update for transmission to a seconddevice object corresponding to a second user; and selecting betweentransmitting the second message to the second device object andtransmitting the second message to the FE instance.
 20. A non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium that includes instructions that, whenexecuted by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine toperform operations comprising: storing, on a distributed storage system,a front-end (FE) instance and a plurality of real-time graph (RTG)instances, each of the plurality of RTG instances includes a pluralityof device objects, the FE instance being configured to communicate witha client device associated with a first user; establishing abi-directional streaming remote procedure call (RPC) connection betweenthe FE instance and the plurality of RTG instances; receiving, by the FEinstance, a status update from the client device; determining, by the FEinstance, that a first device object corresponding to the client deviceis stored on a first RTG instance of the plurality of RTG instances;transmitting a first message comprising the status update from the FEinstance to the first RTG instance to update the first device objectgenerating, by the first RTG instance, a second message comprising thestatus update for transmission to a second device object correspondingto a second user; and selecting between transmitting the second messageto the second device object and transmitting the second message to theFE instance.